The Community Preservation Committee will meet on Monday, at 8 p.m. in the Medway High School Library to discuss two fall Town Meeting warrant articles that require Community Preservation funds: the purchase of the Wicket property and construction of two athletic fields.

Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

The Community Preservation Committee will meet on Monday, at 8 p.m. in the Medway High School Library to discuss two fall Town Meeting warrant articles that require Community Preservation funds: the purchase of the Wicket property and construction of two athletic fields.

Henry Wickett, who lived in Medway for 30 years and now lives in Florida, collected enough signatures for a special Town Meeting article in December 2011 to ask the town to purchase 126.9 acres off Fairway Lane, Ohlson Circle and Woodland Road.

After negotiations stalled, Wickett acquired abutting land off Winthrop Street and said he wanted to offer the town about 98 acres and sell the rest to a developer.

However, engineering plans required for the town to complete an appraisal of the property did not correspond with records at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds, which showed the property consisted of only 115 acres.

The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee have not yet made a recommendation on the article, which is asking the town to purchase the property. Selectmen discussed the issue in executive session before their open meeting session on Monday.

Chairman of the Community Preservation Committee, Mark Cerel, said he is not aware of any accurate engineering plans that have come forward. An appraisal of the land, he said, would not address the issue.

At a previous committee meeting, Board of Selectmen Chairman Glenn Trindade asked the committee for Community Preservation funds for an appraisal, but was denied by the committee.

Cerel said before funds can be appropriated to complete an appraisal, accurate engineering plans must first come forward.

Although the issue is on the agenda, Cerel said he doesn’t expect it to be discussed.

"My understanding is that nothing has changed," he said.

The other agenda item, Article 8, is asking the town to appropriate $280,000 in Community Preservation funds for the design and engineering costs of two athletic fields – the construction of a new field on recently purchased property on Adams Street and the reconstruction of a softball field at Medway High School.

The article was proposed after a report by consulting firm Gale Associates revealed that the town’s fields are in poor condition from being overused by the large number of team sports operating in town.

Proponents of the article, which include selectmen and other town officials, will make a presentation to the committee.

Before the study into the town’s fields was completed, Cerel said he and the rest of the committee had recognized that there was an issue regarding a shortage of athletic fields.

Cerel said a statue governing the use of Community Preservation funds changed to allow municipalities to spend such funds on land already owned by the town, which "gave us more flexibility," Cerel said, adding that he remains "open-minded."

Although Cerel said the town is taking a wise approach and he is "receptive in principle," he said his decision hasn’t been made yet.

"It’s a matter of what the specifics are in terms of what exactly is being proposed," he said. "I’ll wait to hear the presentation before I make up my mind."

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.

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